Workers of New Sabzi Mandi at a loss on how to rebuild their livelihood

Govt officials doubt claims about the extent of damages.

KARACHI:

Fours days after the fire broke out at the New Sabzi Mandi, the market still bears resemblance to a casualty of war with remnants of the stalls and dying embers scattered about.

Around 2,200 shops, offices and hotels were gutted in the fire which engulfed the market on Wednesday but the pushcart labours and fruit and vegetable vendors still find it hard to accept that the disaster that cost them their livelihood was an accident.

“I had 50,000 empty sacks in my shops and saw all of them turn into ashes in front of my eyes. But there was nothing I could do to save my family’s only source of income,” said 30-year-old Sher Zaman, while pointing to the corridor where his five shops used to be. “I don’t believe it was a ‘mistake’ - it was deliberately set on fire because the only shops affected were of the Khali Bardana (empty sacks and wooden cartons).”

Abdul Mateen, a vendor of wooden cartons, shared the same opinion. “At 12:45pm, the fire broke out from the Bananas section and within minutes, we saw smoke coming from the empty sacks shop which was at a distance of 20 yards. The air could not have been the only reason for the fire spreading so fast and only to certain areas.”

Around 1,200 shops of empty sacks and carton were burnt in the fire, resulting in losses worth millions of rupees, said Ramzan Kakar, a vegetable vendor at the market. “The first vehicle of the fire brigade reached at 3:05pm - the roads were deliberately blocked so that they could not reach in time,” he said, adding that the fire could have been controlled if the fire tenders arrived on time. “They [the fire brigade] had no diesel in their vehicles - the shopkeepers paid them for diesel and we brought water tankers with our own money.”

Financial worries

An association comprising 17 unions has set up a protest camp for the affected at the New Sabzi Mandi which will continue till the government pays compensation to the vendors.

The chairperson of the Sabzi Mandi businessmen’s alliance, Haji Syed Abdul Razzak Shah, told The Express Tribune that no official from the government has contacted them yet. “We are poor people who cannot afford these losses on our own. The government should give compensation to the affected people so that they can start their business again.”

According to Shah, the market pays Rs600,000 worth taxes to the government but the market committee appointed by the government has not made a single visit to the market after the incident.

Shah warned that they will suspend the supply of vegetables and fruits to the city and across the country from Monday, when their five-day ultimatum comes to an end.

Govt remains undecided

When asked about the compensation, Administrator Market Committee Karachi Ghulam Murtaza Baloch said that the government’s teams surveyed the Sabzi Mandi on Saturday. The report will be taken to the Sindh Chief Minister House on Monday after which the request for compensation will be put forward.

“We had forbidden the vendors not to keep their items inside the market because they are extremely flammable but they still stocked thousands of sacks and cartons,” said Baloch while talking about the reason behind the fire.

Sindh Agriculture Secretary Agha Jan Akhtar told The Express Tribune that the government has not decided about the compensation yet. “The compensation will be provided according to the enquiry report conducted. It has become a fashion to claim billions in losses and then the government is pressurised for providing those funds.”

He refused the notion of shortage of vegetables and fruits in the city and said that the dealers will not go on strike.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2013.